Commentary: McLaughlin Poll Warning for GOP – Back the Trump Agenda or Face Defeat in 2018

by ConservativeHQ.com Staff

Last week we told you about a recent poll by respected pollster John McLaughlin which showed that, in spite of Leftwing attacks on freedom of speech, Americans overwhelming support the First Amendment and freedom of thought and speech.

But as our friend Dr. Timothy Daughtry pointed out in a recent article for Townhall there’s a lot more to the poll than support for freedom of speech.

Daughtry says that, for the Republican Party, the central message of the poll is “dance with the one who brung ya,” and more specifically, dance with the Trump voters and their agenda.

The message of that McLaughlin poll could not be clearer or simpler for Republicans as they choose in the coming weeks between the agenda of President Trump and the agenda of the Beltway insiders: The base that brought you to the dance supports the Trump agenda. Dance with your base and win. Dance with the Beltway and lose.

Here are just a few highlights Dr. Daughtry culled from the poll:

Voting to increase the debt ceiling without new constraints on spending will make 62% of voters less likely to vote to re-elect a Member of Congress.

“Bailing out health insurance companies without repealing Obamacare” leaves 53% overall less likely to re-elect a representative, and only 29% more likely. That 53% figure jumps to 67% among Trump voters.

Conservatives (70%) and Trump voters (67%) are less likely to support a Member of Congress who has failed to support President Trump’s efforts to vet immigrants more carefully, especially those from countries with a strong terrorist presence.

Refusing to repeal the burdensome Obamacare mandates and taxes leaves 75% of conservatives, 68% of Trump voters, and 66% of Republicans overall less likely to vote to re-elect a Member of Congress.

Eighty-five percent of likely voters still believe that freedom of speech is a fundamental right, even if it offends some people. Only 9% support restrictions on speech. That is not good news for the proponents of political correctness, or for those who bow to its dictates.

In stark contrast to the impression one gets from the leftist news media, when voters are reminded of the violence of the ANTIFA protesters, 81% of conservatives and 63% of voters overall oppose ANTIFA. Only 21% overall support them.

And, as things stand now, 49% of likely voters see the Republican Leadership as “supporting the swamp that President Trump promised to drain,” with only 22% seeing them as helping to drain that swamp.

Now here’s the key takeaway for the poll and from Dr. Daughtry’s article on Townhall:

The issues of concern to the GOP base – conservatives, self-identified Republicans, and Trump voters – are the same kinds of issues that gave rise to the Tea Party movement in 2009 and led to GOP victories in 2010 and 2014. The Trump phenomenon is not just a fluke, but is instead a sign that the sleeping giant of mainstream America is waking up and demanding that Washington get control of our spending, secure our borders, repeal and replace Obamacare, and stop giving in to the stifling demands of political correctness. Trump’s agenda is their agenda.

Elected officials who have not helped to carry out the Trump agenda will not only be going against President Trump; they will also be pitting themselves against the movement that elected him.

We think that this poll, and the free political consulting provided by the astute Tim Daughtry, should give encouragement to every conservative – populist Trump voter who has been watching what’s going on in Washington and thinking “I should run for Congress to support the President and the agenda we voted for in 2016.”

We think once you review the poll you will agree that the only winning agenda for Republicans in 2018 is the agenda Trump ran on in 2016, and that the Republican Party’s weak and feckless Capitol Hill leaders have so far failed to pass.

2 thoughts on “Commentary: McLaughlin Poll Warning for GOP – Back the Trump Agenda or Face Defeat in 2018”

It appears to me that the GOP members of Congress are too wrapped up in their opinion of themselves (please see Senators Corker and Alexander) that they are unable and/or unwilling to hear the voices of reason being shouted at them by the GOP voters. Their “let them eat cake” attitude is down right insulting.